NAACP report says Florida schools are criminalizing schoolchildren
Heartland InstitutePosted: July 2nd, 2006 by R. Lee Wrights
“After an examination of school discipline practices in Florida released this spring, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) recommended clarifying law enforcement’s role in disciplinary procedures, saying minority children are being unnecessarily criminalized instead of merely disciplined at school. The Florida State Conference of the NAACP, the Advancement Project, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund released ‘Arresting Development: Addressing the School Discipline Crisis in Florida.’ The report is the result of town hall meetings held in six of Florida’s largest school districts, in Jacksonville, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and West Palm Beach. The meetings were held as a forum for concerned parents, school administrators, teachers, law enforcement officers, and staff of the Department of Juvenile Justice to comment on school discipline practices in their areas after a five-year-old girl was arrested at a Pinellas County public school in 2005 for disruptive behavior in class.” (07/01/06)
